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On top of that, delayed transfers of care - when patients are medically fit to leave hospital but are stuck in beds while their social care package in the community is arranged - are at their highest levels.

Last month, MPs on the Commons Health Committee said poor performance in A&E has "become the norm" for some NHS trusts.

They warned the NHS could face a "substantially more difficult" winter this year than last, with increasing demand for services, trusts suffering due to too few staff and delayed discharges.

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A shocking 78 per cent of medics believe the NHS is under more pressure than ever

Evidence submitted to MPs showed that A&E departments are now routinely missing the national target to deal with 95 per cent of patients within four hours.

Demand is now so great that hospitals are experiencing a year-round crisis

Dr Mark Porter

Major type 1 A&E departments - those that are located in hospitals - perform the worst, with just 87.9 per cent of patients admitted, discharged or transferred within that time frame in 2015/16.

MPs said that while in the past, NHS trusts would experience their most intense problems in the winter and would enjoy a respite in the summer, now "pressures are high year-round and just reach a more intense peak during the winter".

They said: "The winter of 2015/16 was mild and the flu vaccine worked. We heard of a fear amongst leaders of acute NHS trusts that 2016/17 could be substantially more difficult.

"It is both significant and concerning that, compared to previous years, hospitals are working from a much lower base in terms of their performance as we enter the winter period.

"The decline in performance of emergency departments, which is usually associated with winter pressures, has become the norm for some NHS trusts."

In the new BMA poll, medics said previous winters had already seen them with unmanageable workloads, including in GP surgeries.

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A staff shortage could see the NHS struggle more than it did last year

Beautiful UK snow 2016

Wed, November 9, 2016

Some of the most beautiful snow of 2016 around Scotland, Northern Ireland, North West and North East of England

A man walks his dog as snow falls in Tow Law, in County Durham, after wintry weather swept across northern England overnight

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the BMA's council, said: "These figures are cause for serious concern as while there is an ever-increasing demand for health services across the NHS, this is hugely exacerbated during the winter months.

"Demand is now so great that hospitals are experiencing a year-round crisis, with a lack of available beds preventing the system from coping with a seasonal spike in demand.

"Frontline staff are working flat-out but the system can't cope with the number of patients needing to move through acute care, as the entire system is congested.

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The BMA poll shows that medics were already dealing with unmanageable workloads

"It is vital that there is sufficient capacity across the entire health and social care system, including in accident and emergency departments, general practice and social and community care.

"Doctors are particularly concerned that a lack of investment and resource in social care is increasingly impacting on the provision of healthcare, especially in winter.

"Short-term fixes, however well-meaning, will only get us so far.

"We have to look at the long-term funding, capacity and recruitment issues facing the system as a whole if we are to get to grips with the pressures hospitals face year in, year out, but which are compounded during the winter months.